Flying on UA & ANA: LAX-SFO-NRT-FUK

May 30 – May 31, 2012

United 788

Los Angeles (LAX) – San Francisco (SFO)

Airbus A319

Window Seat, 10A, Economy

All Nippon Airways 7

San Francisco (SFO) – Tokyo Narita (NRT)

Boeing 777-300ER

Middle Seat, 20F, Economy Class

All Nippon Airways 2143

Boeing 737

Tokyo Narita (NRT) – Fukuoka (FUK)

Window Seat, 21F, Economy Class

 

The day before I was supposed to fly from LAX-HNL, I received an email confirming my upgrade which was going to be on a 767. However, that flight was cancelled and I had to make some decisions on new routes to get back to Japan. One of the options was to fly from LAX to Narita and then to Guam, fly to Sapporo and end up in Fukuoka. The problem with that route was that the flight from Narita arrived into Guam at 0200am and left Guam at 0700am. Even though I knew this route would have accumulated more miles than I originally expected, I knew that this would have been mentally and physically exhausting. I ended up with the LAX-SFO-NRT-FUK route.

I was really disappointed and frustrated since I was looking forward to the trip to Guam. I think I was more disappointed about the miles. However, if there was any good that came out of this, it was being able to travel with my Dad and experiencing an international flight on ANA for the first time since 2008. To make up for the lost miles, I book a short mileage run to Boston in July.

After dropping off the rental car, I arrived at LAX about three hours before departure and used the premier access terminal for United Airlines. After a quick breakfast, our full flight to San Francisco was on its way.

Flight to SFO

As soon as I arrived at SFO, I went straight to the ANA counter to change my and my father’s seats so we could sit together. Since we both originally had aisle seats, it was easy for the agent to switch seats around. The only catch was that one of us had to sit in the inside in the four person row which wasn’t a problem at all. The seating configuration on this plane was interesting as it was a 2-4-3, something I’ve only seen on ANA. We ended up sitting in the bulkhead row right behind business class. I was a little apprehensive since smaller children are normally booked at the bulkhead but we sat by an older couple.

The bulkhead row provided extra room to stretch out although we weren’t allowed to keep our small carry-on baggage in front of us. I found it annoying having to pull out the tray table and personal TV multiple times, but the extra leg room made up for it. I took a look around and noticed that the regular economy seats barely had any legroom.

Bulkhead row

ANA’s seats did not recline back like a traditional seat but rather it went back but pushed you forward. I didn’t find this too comfortable and a little awkward.

Compared to US airlines, the food and service was overwhelmingly better. The flight attendants were much nicer and seemed more upbeat than what I was used to seeing with other flight attendants. I remember seeing attendants going through the aisles multiple times with water, coffee, tea, and even lemonade throughout our flight. I also enjoyed the ice cream for dessert.

Lunch

I thoroughly enjoyed the personal TV screen since it made the hours pass by quickly. The multiple maps, games, and selection of movies and shows were much better than what I was used to. Since ANA is a Japanese airline, there aren’t as many English movies and shows as opposed to United’s new entertainment system on their newly configured 777s.

On-board entertainment

Flying from the west coast was nice since I usually fly out of Dulles or Chicago to get to Japan. The flight took less than 10 hours and we arrived to Narita on time. By the time I was on the Fukuoka flight, I was knocked out and didn’t have any time or energy to take pictures.

As nice as it would have been to have taken the long route to Japan, flying ANA and experiencing quality service was semi-worth it. If it wasn’t for the whole mileage thing, I would definitely prefer ANA over United.

The long way to California on US & UA: DCA-BOS-IAH-SFO-SNA

May 23, 2012

US Airways 2020

Washington Reagan (DCA) – Boston (BOS)

Airbus 319 EOW

Aisle Seat, 6C, Economy

United Airlines 1260

Boston (BOS) – Houston (IAH)

Boeing 737 – 800/900

Aisle Seat, 10D, Economy Class

United Airlines 1267 

Houston (IAH) – San Francisco (SFO)

Boeing 737 – 800/900

Aisle Seat, 20C, Economy Class

United Airlines 698

San Francisco (SFO) – Santa Ana (SNA)

Airbus 319 or Airbus 320?

Window Seat, 8F, Economy Class

Plane to Boston

*Sorry for not posting in a while. Things have been hectic and crazy for the past few weeks and I’ve finally found some down time to write up a few trip reports.

Flying from the east coast to west coast is pretty straightforward. You can take a non-stop flight from DC to LAX in about five hours with the whole day to spare or a quick, one-stop connection through Chicago or Denver and still have plenty of daylight left. On the other hand, you could take the long way to maximize the amount of miles you can accrue to the west coast literally eating up an entire day. Let me explain.

DCA-BOS

The day started quite early at 200am. My father and I woke up to get ready for our Super Shuttle pick up at 308am. Unfortunately it was raining and getting all the bags and waiting outside for the shuttle was miserable. I was little apprehensive about getting a shared van because of its inconveniences but thankfully we only had to pick up two other passengers. We arrived at Reagan National airport early, at around 400am. Since our itinerary was kind of complex the agent had to manually write in our destinations on our bag tags (never seen that before).

If there’s one thing I’ve noticed about Reagan National, it’s the long lines for security. I’ve been to this airport several times and each time I always see depressingly long lines for security.

The route between DCA and BOS is branded as US Airways Shuttle since its targeted toward frequent fliers between the two cities (as well as LGA). It boasts quick boarding and deplaning and offers complimentary newspapers. The departure area in Boston comes with a few desks to allow business travelers to get some work done before flying.

The flight to BOS was boarded not by zones but by rows. Boarding this way felt faster and before long we were taxing to the runway for our on-time departure. The flight was quick, taking about an hour and fifteen minutes. Since we were flying on US Airways and were connecting to United, we had to exit the secure area, walk to the other terminal and go through security all over again.

Our flight to Houston technically didn’t have economy plus seats as you can see in the pictures. I believe this was a former Continental plane with an old configuration (not sure if they’ll install E+ or not).

Aisle seat legroom is kind of cramped on BOS-IAH

Our flight from Houston to SFO came equipped with Direct TV which was complimentary before takeoff. For $8, I thought it was an alright deal but I decided not to purchase it (maybe next time).

Gate at Houston

Plenty of legroom but limited recline on IAH-SFO

Direct TV

By this time it was already 600pm pacific time, meaning it was already 19 hours since we woke up for our day of traveling. Our flight to SNA was on time, but for some reason TSA agents were posted at our gate and as were boarding, they had to check our IDs  (not sure why or what it did to enhance security).

Plane to SNA

By 1100pm we arrived at SNA, a full 24 hours after we woke up in DC to start our trip to the west coast.

In total, I racked up 4,232 miles as opposed to a mere 2253 miles if I flew straight from DC to LAX. I found this trip using ITA Software since it effectively searched for the specific routes and times that I wanted. Flying to trip was risky as one single delay or cancellation would have caused major headaches and disruptions to this complex itinerary. Despite this, I plan on doing this all over again when I go back to DC in July.